"We will soon win the war!"

In Washington in 1865, almost everyone and all the newspapers believed in it, and never doubted it ever since the Battle of Gettysburg ended in victory.

As a turning point in the whole war. This protracted civil war has undergone fundamental changes. Before the Battle of Gettysburg, the whole of Washington was in a state of panic, and everyone was worried about defeat and the coming of defeat. But after the Battle of Gettysburg, everything changed.

Especially after General Grant became commander-in-chief of the U.S. military, the war went step by step towards a victory that would make people laugh at every dream. Two years ago, no one knew how the war would end. But now no one believes that the federal government will be defeated.

General Grant would soon occupy the capital of the so-called Confederate State of America, and then the war would end with a federal victory.

It's time for this protracted war to come to an end.

Not to mention anyone else, even as president of the Union. As the strongest supporter of the war, Lincoln also longed for its end.

But the reason she longed for the end of the war was not because he saw victory, but because he had to end it. If it is not possible to end this war. Ten years from now, the United States will face an even larger civil war.

And unlike this civil war, the difference. Then it will be in the midst of that civil war. The United States is not only facing a divided region, but also inevitably facing the intervention of a vast empire.

"The war has to end as soon as possible, and the migration like the western region has to be restored as soon as possible, or when the war ends, we will see a yellow west."

"Now every day, at most ten white people come to Dakota, but every day hundreds, if not hundreds, of Chinese come in there, and they are cultivating land there to set up farms." and even build their own city ......"

"I don't know whether the current Washington area is American land or a Chinese colony, in the harbor, in the river valley, and even in the mountains, there are Chinese villages everywhere. There is no English at all, only the square words of the Chinese, which no one can understand...... What is certain is that right now, the Chinese are occupying the Washington area, and soon, the Chinese there will dye it yellow, as they did in the North American colonies. ”

In contrast to the relatively reserved words of the administrators in these areas, the governor of Oregon is even more blunt.

"Mr. President, either you stop the war and let immigrants come to Oregon in droves, or you continue the war. Ten years later, the Chinese in Oregon will declare independence. Mr. President, maybe you will meet a Chinese here in the next term. He will be the governor of Oregon, and the next governor of Oregon will definitely be a Chinese. ”

As for the governor of California, he has protested to Washington several times. His governorship is facing a precarious challenge...... A large number of Chinese have changed California's demographics. And unlike the blacks and Indians, they were all inhabitants with the right to vote!

Two years ago, in order to avoid China's involvement in this civil war. Almost at the first moment when negotiations between the Chinese and the British began. Lincoln made a decision that made him feel a little wrong every time he thought about it now.

"We were tricked by the Chinese!"

Facing the Secretary of State, Lincoln said in a tone of chagrin.

"Two years ago, when the Chinese were negotiating with us, they said. If the U.S. can accept immigrants from Europe, then it should accept immigrants from China. The Chinese Empire does not tolerate any discriminatory behavior. Especially this act against the nationals of the Chinese Empire! ”

Even though two years had passed, Lincoln's mind still remembered the words of the Chinese ambassador he had sworn in his Oval Office when he was negotiating.

"At the time, every one of us thought. We can liberate blacks. If we can give freedom to black people, then we should treat Chinese equally. It's human dignity, but ......"

As U.S. Secretary of State, Seward was directly involved in that negotiation. In the negotiations, the Chinese are completely in a strong position. Of course, their strength was not just because they defeated the British on the battlefield. Rather, they caught some of California's discriminatory behavior against Chinese, so they justifiably put forward their so-called immigration demands.

"We didn't expect that the Chinese would take advantage of that immigration treaty and frantically pour into the west like a flood, and now they even want to make the entire west theirs."

This is exactly where everyone suffers the most, in the face of the frenzied influx of Chinese into the west. There is simply no way for Washington to stop them, because two years ago, a migration treaty between the two countries was signed.

According to the agreement of this immigration treaty. In the United States, Chinese immigrants will have the same treatment as European immigrants. In other words, what kind of rights do European immigrants enjoy in the United States? What kind of rights do Chinese immigrants have to enjoy?

"If we had been more cautious then, now we could have imposed some special tax on them, like a poll tax, so that we could have stopped them from entering. Instead of paying only $10 as it is now. You can get 160 acres of land. ”

When Seward complained like this, he took a special look at the president, and perhaps back then, he never imagined that one day, the Chinese would take advantage of the US bill and frantically pour into the United States.

Originally, after the independence of the United States, the federal government nationalized the land in the west and decided to sell it by lot in blocks to increase government revenue, repay the national debt, and meet the demands of land speculators. However, the land sold was large and expensive, and the western migrants could not afford to buy it, so many migrants launched a long-term struggle for the distribution of land without compensation. Due to the obstruction of southern slave owners, bills granting land to immigrants without compensation were rejected by the Senate until the Civil War.

Two years ago, in order to win voter support for the federal government, the Lincoln administration was able to implement the Republican Homestead Program, and the House of Representatives and the Senate passed the Homestead Act. This was followed by Lincoln's decree aimed at allocating state-owned land in the western United States to immigrants without compensation.

Under the Homestead Act, the head of a family or a citizen of the United States who had attained the age of 21 years and had never participated in an insurgency may register for a total of up to 160 acres of homesteads after swearing, for the purpose of reclamation, and upon payment of a fee of $10, and the registrant may obtain a land licence and become the owner of the homestead after having lived and cultivated the landstead for five years.

At that time, the reason why Lincoln proposed this bill, and the reason why both houses of Congress passed him, was not to let farmers in the west get land, but to get the people's support for the federal government, and use 160 acres of homestead land to buy the hearts and minds of the people.

But to the surprise of Lincoln and members of both houses of Congress. Just over a year later, the situation has changed radically. With the signing of the immigration treaty between China and the United States, Chinese immigrants also enjoy the same rights. At first, officials in Washington didn't think it was anything. It's not a big deal at all.

But what they didn't expect was that Chinese in the country, through newspapers and even official announcements, told every Chinese...... As long as they immigrate to the United States and only need to pay ten yuan, they can get 1,000 acres of land, although in reality they can only get 960 acres of land, but for the Chinese, this is a good thing they never even dreamed of.

Because of this, in the past two years, a steady stream of Chinese has poured into the west like a tidal wave. These Chinese set up their own farms and even cities in the west.

Although, administrative officials in all regions believe that the Chinese are the most industrious citizens in the world, that they can reclaim the most land in the shortest possible time and then pay taxes to the government. But one immutable fact is ...... Now there are too many Chinese there!

It's a disaster!

"There's no way around it......"

Lincoln shrugged helplessly,

"We all knew that we didn't have any other choice. What were we facing? The Chinese could be involved in the American civil war at any time, if we don't make concessions on immigration. Then now we will have to face the Chinese in the south. ”

Perhaps for Lincoln, this was his only consolation.

"Although Ireland is now independent, the immigrants from Ireland have not decreased because of this, after all, the output of the land there is limited and cannot feed everyone, so they have to come here, and other countries in Europe, if the war ends, I believe that soon, immigrants from Europe will reoccupy the west, after all, the Pacific Ocean is too vast, it will be easier for European immigrants to come here, and the Rocky Mountains are also blocking the footsteps of the Chinese, gentlemen, At least the west is big enough. ”

All right!

Perhaps there is no more ostrich policy than that. At least now the war is coming to an end. Once the war is over, not only will there be a large number of immigrants to the west, but also those who have retired soldiers.

"Maybe we can think about it."

Thinking of those soldiers, Lincoln naturally thought of the 300,000 veterans who had been Chinese resettled in the Chinese North American colonies in the past two years, Chinese had succeeded in turning Canada into their colony by providing them with land...... Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and their families have cultivated hundreds of thousands of farms of various sizes in the once inhospitable areas of Canada, and it is now impossible for either the British or the French to change the fact that Canada belongs to China. Because they have too many people there.

"Think about giving the land of the west to our soldiers, after all, they have sacrificed a lot for the country, and we should be like the Chinese." By providing land to the servicemen free of charge, let our soldiers occupy the west! ”

"Mr. President, you know that if that's the case, our government will lose tens of millions of dollars."

As the Treasury secretary, he immediately reminded him that the United States, unlike China, could provide huge subsidies to their immigrants. But the United States does not have the financial resources to do so.

Looking at the Secretary of the Treasury, Lincoln said earnestly.

"Hey, even if we send 1 million soldiers to the west, how much will the government lose? It's only 10 million, but if we don't......"

Lincoln, who stood up, walked to the window and looked out of the window. It seemed like he was looking west.

"In the next few years, maybe a million Chinese will settle in the west, and yes, our government will get $10 million." But in the future we may lose more. ”

Even though the war was not over yet, Lincoln had already begun to think about the future.

"Mr. President, these are millions of people, and if we let them go west, how will they get there? Is it a carriage ride? Now that our railroad has not been built to the west, we cannot send everyone there as soon as the war is over. ”

Without the railway, this is the biggest impact on the immigrants in the west, and in his opinion, even if the government provides land for those ex-servicemen without compensation. What's the point?

At least for a year, two years, or even longer, they won't be able to go west because of transportation problems, maybe the land is free, but the wagons and food need money, and that's what many immigrants lack, even those who have retired from service. They also didn't have enough money to buy wagons and food. Then head west.

"Build a railway! Railroad construction, of course! We're going to build the railroad now. Do everything possible to get our railways to the western region in the shortest possible time! ”

Without the slightest hesitation, Lincoln said in the affirmative.

"Only by building the railway can we send as many immigrants as possible to the west, and only then can we compete with the Chinese there, knowing that this competition is directly related to whether we can own the west."

In Lincoln's view, this is a new competition, and the result of this competition is the future of the United States.

"Mr. President, what we need to know is that now the Chinese have built their railroad in Canada, and although it is very difficult to build a railroad over the Rocky Mountains, their work has not stopped."

Seward reminded the president that he had been vigilantly following the progress of the Pacific Railroad built by the Chinese.

"There's no problem with that!"

Lincoln shook his head.

"It's easier to build a railway from the east to the west. Some, we may be behind them, but at least we don't have to climb the Rocky Mountains here, and ......"

Lincoln's words were interrupted by a sudden knock on the door, and as the door opened, a staff member of the president's office said nervously.

"Mr. President, the Chinese ambassador has requested to meet with you, and now, meet you immediately!"

(Speechless's new book "Daming Iron Bone" has been released, I hope everyone can continue to support Speechless, thank you!) Ask for recommendations and collections for new books)